How can we understand the role people and groups play in the change process?
Social change is made not by heroic individuals, but by the actions of many.
Stakeholder analysis seeks to empower students to understand the wide range of people and groups who may be involved, both directly and indirectly, and their dynamic relationships to the issues at hand.
As with power models, analyzing stakeholders invites students to be introspective about the issues they are exploring. It can help them see how different relationships to power inform their perceptions and conclusions, and how empathy can influence their understandings.
Note: There are contexts in which the concept of "Stakeholder" needs to be considered alongside the understandings of "Rights-holders". For example, contemporary Native American land rights, and the human rights of enslaved Africans during slavery, cannot be diminished or equated with other 'stakeholders' who might be involved.
Learn more about the Integrated Action Civics framework.
Stakeholder Analysis includes 5 analytical tools:
Worldview / Stakeholder Identification / Stakeholder Matrix / Stakeholder Transformation / Deliberative Discourse
Worldview
How does our worldview shape our thoughts and actions?
Where do our beliefs and values come from?
Understanding worldviewis critical for analyzing the role stakeholders play in a change-process. Our worldview - how and why we make sense of the world - shapes our thoughts, opinions and actions. It both contributes to, and is impacted by, one’s identity and influences how we move through the world.
USE THIS STRATEGY
HOW IT WORKS
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
|
EXAMPLES
|
LEARNING & EMPOWERMENT
Exploring Worldview helps students:
- be more self-aware as well as better understand how and why other people do what they do.
- understand how whole societies and cultures embody and perpetuate a particular ideology.
- uncover implicit judgement, develop empathy, and contemplate the ethical dimension of contemporary issues and historical events.
Helps teachers:
- examine our stance - how we show up - in the classroom and our assumptions about our students.
- reflect on our pedagogy - how we decide what’s important to teach and how to teach it.
Helps classroom communities:
- build awareness and respect for one another.
- lay the groundwork to work and collaborate as change-makers.
CONNECTIONS AND EXTENSIONS
- Visioning Justice - Explore ideals of a just society. (G.Slides)
- Manifesto - What changes do you want to see? (G.Slides)
- Interrogate the Source - Scaffold to help uncover an author's implicit argument or bias. (G.Doc)
Stakeholder Identification
Who is involved, directly or indirectly, in an event, policy or problem?
Who who might be impacted, even remotely, by an action or change?
Building on prior investigation, this model asks students to identify and categorize stakeholders based on their connection to the issue or event under study.
- Direct stakeholders: Those immediately involved or impacted.
- Indirect stakeholders: Those who are secondarily involved or impacted.
- Key stakeholders: Those who are in a position of power or influence..
USE THIS STRATEGY
HOW IT WORKS
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
|
CURRICULUM PLANNING
EXAMPLES
|
LEARNING & EMPOWERMENT
INQUIRY EXAMPLES
- Contemporary Analysis / Action - Who is impacted by or able to exert influence on wage policy?
- Historical Investigation - Considering its global impact, who are the stakeholders involved in the institution of slavery?
CONNECTIONS AND EXTENSIONS
- Deliberative Discourse - Identify and explore 3 different stakeholders impacted by a policy or decision
- Stakeholder Matrix - Examine the power, motivation and stance of different stakeholders in solving a problem
- Stakeholder - Scaffold Set - Use all or some of a series of scaffolds to deeply analyze the role of various stake/rights-holders.
- Taking Action - Build awareness or advocate by developing messaging tailored for specific audiences.
Stakeholder Matrix
How do the various stakeholders relate to an issue or event?
Who has an interest in change?
Who has the power to effect a desired outcome?
This model helps students explore the motivation and power of different stakeholders involved in a contemporary issue or historical event. After identifying the stakeholders, students place stakeholders along the vertical axis based on the influence or power a stakeholder has, and on the horizontal axis based on the interest the stakeholder has in an issue. For example:
- A student has a high interest in, but low influence over, rules at school.
- A politician may have power to change policy, but low motivation to act on it.
USE THIS STRATEGY
HOW IT WORKS
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
|
EXAMPLES
|
LEARNING & EMPOWERMENT
INQUIRY EXAMPLES
- Contemporary Analysis / Action - Who has a stake in, or power to influence, policies that might impact global warming in our community?
- Historical Investigation - What power and influence did the various stakeholders have during the abolition movement in the US?
CONNECTIONS AND EXTENSIONS
- Stakeholder Identification - Identify who is involved or impacted by an issue or problem
- Stakeholder Transformation - Brainstorm how different stakeholders' stances need shift to accomplish a desired change.
- Strategize for Change - Straegize how to influence different stakeholders to acheive a desired goal.
- Deliberative Discourse - Identify and explore 3 different stakeholders impacted by a policy or decision
Stakeholder Transformation
How might the stakeholders be mobilized to help realize a goal?
This step asks students to look at each stakeholder and consider how their relationship to an issues would need to shift in order to accomplish a desired change. For each stakeholder, the student asks:
- What is their current relationship to the change process?
- How would we want to see this shift regarding their interest and power?
- What are some possible approaches to realize this shift?
USE THIS STRATEGY
HOW IT WORKS
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
|
EXAMPLES
|
LEARNING & EMPOWERMENT
INQUIRY EXAMPLES
- Contemporary Analysis / Action - How can the different people and groups' be motivated to help change disciplinary policy at our school?
- Historical Investigation - How were northern white students encouraged to come to Mississippi to support Black voting rights?
CONNECTIONS AND EXTENSIONS
- Stakeholder Matrix - Determine the relationship of different people and groups to the issue as preparation for "Stakeholder Transformation" strategy.
- Stakeholder - Scaffold Set - Use all or some of a series of scaffolds to deeply analyze the role of various stake/rights-holders.
- Develop Change Strategies - Create coherent plan of action
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Deliberative Discourse Resources:
- ConversationSentence Starters - Tiered - Basic, Academic, Historical Thinking
- My Worldview - UCBHSSP activity to explore how we arrive at our worldview. From Making History
- In a Just Society - UCBHSSP activity to help students explore their concepts of justice
- NIFI - National Issue Forum - A collection of resources for deliberative Discourse
- Pro/Con- a leading source for pro, con, and related research on controversial issues
- YES Magazine - analyzes societal problems in terms of root causes and opportunities for change.
- Facing History and Ourselves - Provides lessons and resources on contemporary issues
- Critical Thinking Cheatsheet - A set of questions to deeply interrogate an event or position
Articles:
-
Yes, Race and Politics Belong in the Classroom: Ten Tips for Teachers…
-
Shifting Out of Neutral - Jonathan Gold, Teaching Tolerance
-
Dangerous Discussions: Voice and Power in My Classroom, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
-
Classroom Deliberation in the Era of Political Polarization. D Hess, P McAvoy Curriculum Inquiry 43:1 (2013)
-
Social Justice Resource Collection - Compiled by UCBHSSP
Deliberative Discourse
How do different stakeholders view an issue or a problem?
How can we discuss controversial topics from a stance of curiosity and empathy?
The Deliberative Discourse protocol helps students clarify their stance on controversial topics through an exploration of the viewpoints of different stakeholders. Students:
- Engage in preliminary research and develop initial informed opinions on an issue
- Identify the key stakeholders involved in a situation (see above).
- Jigsaw between table-groups to explore different viewpoints.
- Revisit, reflect upon and revise their initial stance.
- Engage in reflective discussion to identify points of agreement and conflict.
USE THIS STRATEGY
HOW IT WORKS
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
|
CURRICULUM PLANNING
EXAMPLES
|
LEARNING & EMPOWERMENT
INQUIRY EXAMPLES
- Contemporary Analysis / Action - Should schools have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech?
- Historical Investigation - Has school desegration generaly served the best interest of students of color?
CONNECTIONS AND EXTENSIONS
- Structured Academic Conversations - Builds academic discourse skills that are useful in deliberative discourses.
- My Worldview - UCBHSSP activity to explore how we arrive at our worldview. From Making History
- Stakeholder Identification - Helps students determine which stakeholders to consider for a deliberative discourse.
- Stakeholder Transformation - Students apply their deeper appreciation for the perspective of different stakeholders to brainstorm how different stakeholders might be able to shift their stance.
- Building Awareness & Advocacy - Develop messaging to specific audiences based on a deeper understanding of the concerns and perspectives of different stakeholders.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR DELIBERATION:
- Conversation Sentence Starters - Tiered - Basic, Academic, Historical Thinking
- NIFI - National Issue Forum - A collection of resources for deliberative Discourse
- Pro/Con- a leading source for pro, con, and related research on controversial issues
- Teaching Controversial Issues: A Framework for Reflective Practices, Judy Pace
- YES Magazine - analyzes societal problems in terms of root causes and opportunities for change.
- Facing History and Ourselves - Provides lessons and resources on contemporary issues
- Critical Thinking Cheatsheet - A set of questions to deeply interrogate an event or position
ARTICLES:
- Yes, Race and Politics Belong in the Classroom: Ten Tips for Teachers - Richard Milner
- Shifting Out of Neutral - Jonathan Gold, Teaching Tolerance
- Dangerous Discussions: Voice and Power in My Classroom, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
- Classroom Deliberation in the Era of Political Polarization. D Hess, P McAvoy Curriculum Inquiry 43:1 (2013)